Pay more for your home in 2013

Get ready to pay more next year to register your house. The ready reckoner rates for the state, which will be declared on January 1, will be 25 per cent higher at most locations as compared to last year’s rate.

Ready reckoner rates are those on which, a flat buyer has to pay five per cent stamp duty that is applicable while registering a flat. According to sources, there were hardly any deals and sales that took place in 2012, the stamp duty office has still decided to hike the ready reckoner prices.

According to sources, the rates will go up by 25 per cent in upmarket areas such as Cuffe Parade, Bandra, Khar, Malabar Hill, Napean Sea Road and Colaba. Areas such as Thane, Andheri, Goregaon, Mulund, Borivli will see a 10 to 20 per cent increase.

According to realtors, this will also mean that real estate prices will increase. Builders pay premium for the fungible FSI as per ready reckoner rates, so when they shell out more, they will charge homebuyers more. City builders claim that they expected the price rise, and blame the government for not allowing stocks to tackle the price rise. Meanwhile, realty experts claim that the government should stop marking every area with the same scale. At the end of all this, however, what’s certain is that the homebuyer will have to loosen his pockets, if he’s buying a new home.

Advocate Vinod Sampat, who has been active in the stamp duty and registration field, claims, “The hike in the rates are unrealistic. The government shouldn’t hike rates just to meet its targets, and stop judging an entire area based on a few deals. It is not necessary that the price of a multi-storey apartment facing the sea will be the same as its adjacent city-view building.”

The stamp duty department scrutinises the data of registrations till October. The department releases a new set of stamp duty rates based on the rate at which the stamp duty is paid. This way, it sets the rates for the entire state.

According to realtor Prakash Rohira, this means that a market that is trying to stabilise will be destabilised again, as property prices are likely to be affected. “Already builders are made to pay for FSI and now with ready reckoner rates going up, the premium that builders pay for FSI, will also increase. They will pass it on to the buyers,” said Rohira.

The builders lobby claims that the rates are going up due to the government. “In the last few days, the real estate prices have gone up, and the artificial scarcity created in terms of stocks will absolutely lead to price rise.

The reason is very simple, the government isn’t passing proposals for new constructions and even if it does, it is very slow. The stock needed isn’t coming to the market, thus the prices are on the upward move. There will be no benefit or change by blaming the registration office. Let there be housing stock, the prices will come under control,” said Anand Gupta, honorary treasurer, Builders Association of India.

Senior officers from the registration department refused to comment on the ready reckoner rates.